dark faerie 06 - ever dead (2 page)

Benton settled in, closing his eyes as he let the ache of the day’s work flow through him. He’d had many days like this…challenging…tiring…and many more were to come if his mission was to be completed. His sister, Queen Shade of the Scren Seelie Court was counting on him to do it. At least he was in the human world, where he’d rather be. The Faerie world was alright, but weirded him out.

There was no place like home.

Chapter 1

“He were a mean sombitch,” the grizzled and gray-haired black man mumbled to his friend as he leaned over the pile. “But I ain’t sure that be him.”

“I’ll bet you my shopping cart it’s him, Roscoe,” his friend Samuel replied, his head inches away from Roscoe’s as he also stared down at the pile. “Lookit there…that there’s that fancy belt buckle he always wore.”

“Damned if it ain’t,” Roscoe admitted grudgingly. “But what the hell happened to im?”

Samuel shrugged as he reached down to the pile of ash. The shiny belt buckle gleamed back at him, beckoning. “Don’t rightly know Roscoe, but Ima bettin he ain’t a gonna be needin this here buckle any more.”

“That
is
a fine looking buckle,” a third voice suddenly interrupted. Still bent over, Roscoe and Samuel turned their heads toward the third man, who was also leaning over the pile of ash. Looking back at each other, they both shrugged at the interruption. Neither one knew the new guy.

Looking back down, they were met by a hand holding a police badge.

“Detective Snowdon fellas, I have a couple of questions for you.”

Roscoe and Samuel turned their heads towards each other again, their eyes bugging out in fear before they both took off in different directions, scrambling to get away.

Reacting instinctively, Hank Snowdon flicked out the tip of an ancient-looking walking stick, tripping Samuel as he tried to run by. Looking up, he saw Roscoe running up the street like a man twenty years younger.

“Lucifer,” Hank yelled over to a muscular red dog with pointy ears. Instantly the dog glanced attentively toward him. Pointing at the receding Roscoe, Hank yelled simply, “Fetch!”  

Lucifer was off like a shot, making quick work of covering the distance between herself and the disappearing Roscoe. Leaping gracefully over the piles of rubble that littered the street, the dog made a final turning leap that landed her square in front of the old man. Baring her teeth while growling quietly, she instantly got Roscoe’s attention. Sliding to a stop, Roscoe started backpedaling away from the animal.

Lucifer walked forward slowly, herding the old man back toward his master.

“You sick that devil dog on me?” Roscoe yelled toward Hank over his shoulder as he continued to backpedal, afraid to turn away from the dog.

Hank smiled, enjoying the show as he held a foot on Samuel’s back to hold him down. “I just asked her to bring you back. Looks like she’s doing that just fine. Now why don’t you have a seat on that curb right there.”

Roscoe sat down nervously, still eyeing the animal warily.

Hank lifted his foot off of Samuel and indicated that he should also sit on the curb. Lucifer sat down in front of them on the street, alert but seemingly relaxed.

“Like I was saying gentlemen, my name is Hank Snowdon. I’m a detective with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), Homicide Division.”

“Homicide?” Roscoe asked suddenly, looking up nervously at the detective. “What’s that got to do with us man? We ain’t been killin’ anybody!”

“You said this pile of ash used to be a friend,” Hank replied, pointing to the small pile at his feet.

“He ain’t no friend of ours,” Samuel piped in, “That guy were one mean snake.”

“No friend, nosir!” Roscoe added while shaking his graying head. “We hid from him most days if’n we seen im. There were something wrong with that dude. Big and mean, and he always looked sickly.”

“Sickly,” Samuel nodded in agreement. “And I seen ‘im sparkle once.”

“Sparkle?” repeated Hank skeptically. “What’s that mean?”

“I seen it too!” Roscoe added, “Looked like if’n you took alumium foil and moved it around in the sun, all shimmery like.”

Roscoe’s hands moved back and forth frantically in front of him in demonstration.

Hank shook his head in frustration at the description. Eyeing both characters before turning toward the pile, he crouched down next to the ashes.

“Dude have a name?” he asked.

“Heard someone call him Albert once,” Samuel replied while squinting at Hank. “And someone told me he were a fairy, but he didn’t look gay to me.”

“Nope,” Roscoe added, shaking his head, “He weren’t no homo-sex-ule, and I wouldn’t wanna be around him if someone ever called him that neither.” They both muttered together, agreeing.

Hank nodded at their answers, but his concentration was on the ashes. Spotting something glinting in the sun, he was about to reach into the ashes when he heard the
blurp
of a squad car arriving behind him.

Standing, he turned to face the policeman exiting the car.

“Snowman!” the grinning patrolman exclaimed as he approached Hank. “How’d you get here so quick, I just now got the call?”

Hank shrugged, “Luci and I were in the area, George. Just happened across it.”

Hearing her name, Lucifer moved over next to the officer and sat, raising her paw toward him to shake.

“How ya doing girl?” George asked as he kneeled down and shook her paw. “Luci and the Snowman, you guys just slumming?”

Hank shrugged, “Got wind of some strange goings-on in the neighborhood, we were just sniffing around.”

Looking over at the two men on the curb, “These gentlemen had just started telling me about their friend Albert, who they think is now this pile of ash.”

Shocked, George looked down at the heap of ash with a low whistle.

“Damn! You think it’s for real? I mean, how could someone disintegrate like that?”

Hank scratched his head, perplexed.

“Don’t know, George, but we gotta investigate it. You mind taking their statements? I’m going to call in a forensics team.”

“Sure thing Snowman,” George nodded before ambling over to Samuel and Roscoe.

Hank spent a few moments calling in his request before ending the call. Donning Latex gloves, he again crouched next to the ash.

Was there really anything worth investigating?

Gently reaching below the surface, he found what had caught his eye earlier and pulled it out of the dust and into the daylight. Feeling Lucifer next to him, he turned slightly to show her the green rock hanging from a tarnished golden chain.

“What do make of this girl?” he asked the dog softly as he turned it around in his hand. “You ever see anything like this before?”

Luci whimpered softly as she lowered herself onto her stomach.

“Yeah, me neither,” Hank continued, catching another bright glint in his eye when the sun caught the stone just right. Something about it wasn’t settling well with him.

I seen him sparkle once,
Hank repeated Samuel’s words in a whisper.

Chapter 2

Hank was lost in thought as he manipulated the stick in a Hanbo kata. Having converted a room in his house into a small dojo, he went there often when he needed to think.

He’d been practicing Hanbō Jutsu since he was ten, a martial art practice utilizing a three to four foot hardwood stick, or Hanbo. Hank’s grandfather had given him the ancient hickory staff after Hank had crushed his foot in an auto accident that summer. His grandfather had then started him on the martial arts regime to help facilitate his recuperation. 

Although Hank’s outward appearance mostly belied his Asian heritage, his grandfather had been a transplant from Okinawa. He’d also been a true believer in the importance of martial arts training, as well as a strict taskmaster.

Hank ended his kata with a series of strikes and locks before grabbing a bottle of water. Taking a few swallows he then looked over at Lucifer, who had been watching him intently

“How’d I do girl?” he asked her before taking another sip.

Luci rolled over on her back, playing dead.

“Yeah, I know, I sucked. I guess I was a little distracted.”

As Luci rolled back onto her stomach, Hank made his way over to the green stone he had pulled out of the ash. Picking it up by the chain, he twirled it around and watched as flashes of light seemed to reflect off of its surface. The stone wasn’t clear like an emerald, but a solid green. It wasn’t extremely polished either, nor did it have what he would consider facets like a diamond. The fact that it reflected light at all was a puzzle. It was actually a quite simple looking stone, but it seemed to actually amplify the surrounding light…or made its own?

“Mighty strange,” he mumbled as he pocketed the stone. Glancing at his watch, he realized that he was running late. He had a lot of ground to cover today, and he hadn’t planned on getting such a late start. Taking a quick shower, he donned his khakis and a light button-down and headed for the door.

“Let’s go Lucifer, got a big day.”

The red dog was instantly by his side, panting excitedly as Hank picked up his gun and stick. Although his foot now bothered him only when he walked a lot or was very tired, he still used the staff every day. Thanks to his grandfather’s training, it now seemed more like an extension of his body than a tool to help him get around.

And it was a hell of a weapon!

Pushing the gun under his belt at his back, he then pulled the tail of the shirt over it before grabbing Lucifer’s leash. Far from needing any kind of restraint, Lucifer was still required to wear a leash in some places that he frequented…like the office.

“Come on girl,” Hank coaxed as he set off walking. Only two miles to the office, they had but eighteen minutes to get there to avoid being late for the meeting he’d scheduled for 8:00.

“Looks like we need to hoof it girl,” he grinned as he started off in a fast trot.

***

  Pushing through the swinging doors of the Medical Examiner’s lab, Hank snapped his fingers lightly at his side and pointed to a spot beside the doors. Lucifer moved to that location and sat quietly. 

“Do you have to bring that mutt in here?” Dr. Jacoby asked, looking up over his glasses at the dog. “She could contaminate the evidence!”

Hank grinned. It was a running argument between him and the doctor whether or not it was proper to bring Lucifer into the lab.

Luci always won.

“I promise she will sit there quietly doc,” Hank replied. Looking back toward his dog, “Luci? Show the doctor how good you will be.”

Luci sat up on her hind legs, holding her front paws out like a bunny.

Dr. Jacoby sighed.

“Whatever. I suppose you’re here to ask about the findings on the ash you discovered?”

“If you would be so kind,” Hank replied, planting his walking stick in front of him with both hands on top of the gnarled and rounded end.

Dr. Jacoby walked over to a set of shelves and removed a clear plastic container and brought it back to the table.

“These are the remains that you found,” he stated as he opened the container.

Hank peeked over the edge, seeing that it was filled with one-gallon zip-lock bags. “Have you been able to tell if they are human remains yet?”

“It is remains of
something;
I’m not sure about the human part yet.”

Hank screwed his mouth to the side in confusion. “You lost me, Doc.”

Dr. Jacoby looked up at Hank over his glasses before pushing them up his nose.

“What I am saying detective, is that although these are not
human
remains, they are not animal either. I’ve only had time to check the mitochondria DNA however, so I’d rather hold off telling you anything else until I have the full DNA profile back from the state lab.”

“Just give me your best guess then doc,” Hank replied. “I really need somewhere to start on this.”

Dr. Jacoby looked up at Hank and shook his head. “I’m really not comfortable forming an opinion at this time.”

“Lucifer,” Hank called out over his shoulder. “Crawl.”

Luci moved to her belly and started slowly crawling toward the lab table.

“Hey!” Dr. Jacoby spoke loudly. “Keep that mutt over by the door!”

“She just wants to see what’s going on, Doc,” Hank replied, turning and watching her inch forward. “Maybe she can sniff the remains, she’d let me know if they were human.”

Dr. Jacoby watched with dread as the dog moved closer and closer to the table.

“All right, all right! I’ll tell you if you get that red devil away from my evidence.”

Snapping his finger beside his leg, Hank put his fingers together in an upside-down hand signal for stop. Flicking his fingertips back twice, Luci got up and returned to her place by the door, panting happily.

“You were saying?” Hank smiled at Dr. Jacoby.

The doctor mumbled under his breath before speaking. “Let me reiterate, these are very
preliminary
findings.”

Hank nodded quietly as he waited for the doctor to continue.

“As I said before, these remains are not of a human. What I left out was that they
did
encompass
some
humanlike strands.”

Hank took in the information, but wasn’t sure he’d heard the doctor right.

“What is it you’re telling me, Doctor?”

Dr. Jacoby shook his head as he looked down at the ash, raising his eyes toward Hank before he continued. “What I’m trying to say, Hank, is that you have made a very mysterious scientific discovery.”

“What you have discovered, is a completely unknown species of humanoid!”

Chapter 3

Hank Snowdon sat at his desk quietly, thinking. He’d been trying to get through some paperwork on some of his other cases, but his mind wouldn’t focus.